Nra Plan For Checks Misfire

Va. Law No Help For Gun Strategists

Since Virginia adopted the nation's first instant criminal background check for gun purchasers, the National Rifle Association has waved the law like a banner across the country.

The powerful gun lobby prophesied that it could use the concept of instant background checks to make waiting periods for gun purchases a thing of the past in other states.

In selling Virginia's approach, the NRA's strategy thus far has flopped. While legislatures in several other states are considering an instant check law, none have repealed their waiting periods. Legislators from those states say a Virginia-style law would either complement gun control measures already in place or wouldn't work at all.

Virginia's law, which was passed by this year's General Assembly and goes into effect Nov. 1, establishes a toll-free telephone number linking gun dealers and the State Police. The system is designed to ensure compliance with a federal law that forbids convicted felons from possessing firearms. It has been heralded as an unobtrusive form of gun control.

Instant checks wouldn't be made for all Virginia gun purchases - only for handguns with barrels less than five inches long and semiautomatic military assault rifles.

Legislatures in California, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont have or will soon debate similar bills, lawmakers in those states say. They are among 22 states considering some form of gun control, ranging from an outright ban on military-style assault weapons to mandatory gun safety classes.

In Washington, D.C., in addition to a call in Congress to ban certain military assault weapons, the U.S. Justice Department is looking into a national records system that gun dealers could plug into to be sure the people buying guns over the counter aren't wanted for crimes in other states. The department's report is due in November.

Meanwhile, Virginia remains in the spotlight.

"I've had calls from 10 to 12 states" wanting to know more about Virginia's law, said its sponsor, Sen. Moody E. "Sonny" Stallings Jr., D-Virginia Beach.

"A lot of states like California said if conservative Virginia can do it, why can't we?"

Stallings' legislation was a compromise between gun control advocates and firearms enthusiasts. Monitored closely by the NRA and Handgun Control Inc., the bill originally called for an unspecified waiting period for a criminal background check to be made. But when it came out of the General Assembly, it was a telephone check by gun dealers with police.

Legislators in several states say they are curious how effective the Old Dominion's record check will be.

In California, the state assembly is considering two bills establishing a 900 phone number gun dealers would use to tap into motor vehicle and police records to determine if a cus tomer can buy a weapon.

Richard L. Mountjoy, a Republican member of the California assembly, is sponsoring one of the bills. "It's the way we ought to go," he said. "I think the more states that get into it, the better the checks will be."

The California bills apply to all weapons except handguns, for which there is a statewide 15-day wait. Mountjoy said he wouldn't want to see the waiting period repealed; he regards it as "a cooling off period."

The NRA has staked out Ohio as a state that might replace a waiting period with an instant record check. The legislature is considering a 14-day waiting period and the NRA is countering with a Virginia-style telephone check instead. So far legislators haven't put the proposal in bill form.

In Michigan, state Sen. Nick Smith wants to implement a record check law that would require people buying semiautomatic rifles to go to the police department or town hall for a permit. The state has such a law in place for handguns, Smith said.

"I'm anxious to see how that works," Smith said of the Virginia 800 phone number. "Our state police felt uncomfortable with a toll-free number." They did not want to give gun dealers information about people's criminal history on the telephone, he explained.

No record-check bill went before the Maryland legislature this year, but state Sen. Raymond Beck promises there will be one when the lawmakers meet in 1990. Beck said he requested a copy of the Virginia law and will draft a Maryland version by the end of the summer.

"I think we need to know if gun purchasers have criminal backgrounds," he said. "All we'd need is a way to access that system through a clearinghouse" with state police.

Maryland passed a seven-day waiting period for handguns a year ago and has a nine-member commission that has until July 1 to come up with a list of cheap handguns that will be banned outright.

Beck would not propose the background check to replace the waiting period, however. "I don't mind a waiting period. I don't see the state abandoning completely" the weekly wait for a weapon.